Excepts from
Curating Teen Voices: Coming of Age
A portfolio project led by Mariana Parisca, Story Stitchers Artist in Residence
On view by appointment at Bruno David Gallery
7513 Forsyth Blvd., Clayton MO 63105
Curating Teen Voices: Coming of Age is a time capsule of teenage voices combined with adult artists living in St. Louis in 2015, all reacting to a critical and unique time in the history of race relations, gun violence, police roles and community relationships in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Financial assistance for this project has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Catching Music
By Ella
Grade 5
c Saint Louis Story Stitchers, 2015
One day, my friend, Jayden, and I had a play date at my house in Holly Hills. We took a walk in my neighborhood and started to hear music blowing around our heads like a leaf being blown by the wind. Jayden and I began to follow it.
The music kept avoiding us, so we started to trot. The music tricked us into thinking it was in a certain house, when really it wasn’t. The music would turn louder, then quieter, like I was turning a radio knob.
We peeked in every house, hoping we would find where the music was coming from. Suddenly we realized we were lost!
We tried to retrace our steps along the old sidewalks. Then we asked for directions. I picked a bouquet of white flowers for my dad, just in case he would be mad when we got home.
Finally, we saw my dad’s gray truck rolling up. I handed him the flowers. He sighed and gave us a short lecture about staying near the house.
“We were trying to catch music,” I said softly, looking down at my green flip-flops.
His eyebrows rose. Then he began to chuckle. He told us that the music was coming from Carondelet Park. In the spring and summer, they play live music there on the weekends. Because there are so many houses close together, the music bounces off the structures.
I grinned. Catching music is hard.
